After a period of time, one to three days, depending on conditions, the tobacco, now cut and speared on sticks is loaded on wagons and hauled to the barns for hanging and curing. More labor as wagons are loaded and then unloaded in the barns. The process goes like this...full wagon in barn, the barn is made up of rails, placed several feet apart, usually four layers high but sometimes as many a six, depending on the individual barn. Men stand on every other rail, man on wagon hands a stick of tobacco to man on first rail who spreads the stalks evenly on the stick and “shakes out” the stick to get the leaves hanging evenly to allow as much air flow around plant as possible. Next stick from wagon gets handed up as before, only now the first man hands stick to man above, who hangs his rail. Each man will hang two rails, the one he is standing on and the one directly above that. Repeat as necessary, hanging and handing up every other stick, or third stick if the barn is six rails high. This is probably something that one would need to see to understand how it works.
There is an art and science to properly curing tobacco. This is air cured, no heat involved. The barn shutters are managed during the curing process depending on conditions to achieve proper air flow and thus proper curing of the leaf. During this time of curing the leaf will change color from greenish yellow to golden brown or red. When the leaves are cured, around eight to twelve weeks, depending on weather conditions, temperature, humidity, etc., the tobacco is ready to be “taken down” and stripped.
The tobacco can only be handled now in periods of high humidity, in order to soften the leaves to avoid crumbling. This is called being “in case”. When the tobacco is cured and in case, it can be removed from the rails, dropped in piles and the sticks removed, now the process of “stripping” is upon us. This involves stripping or removing the leaves from the stalk. Once again the whole family is involved. When I was on the farm we stripped in three grades, the bottom third, more or less, is called trash, this is lesser quality leaf, the middle third is lugs, which are the thick, heavy leaves, and the top third, called tips or red, due to the reddish color and smaller, tip shaped leaves. The leaves are stripped in grades as above, kept separate and tied in “hands”, which is a fist sized bundle of leaves secured with a leaf from the same bundle. These hands of tobacco were placed in large baskets for delivery to the auctions. In later years the leaves were baled in an air operated baler to make a bale that weighed around 80 to 100 pounds.
I mentioned the auction. Finally payday. This would be late November to mid January. The completed crop is transported to a warehouse, where it is placed in rows with other farmers tobacco. Each basket of leaf is graded for quality and auctioned to the tobacco companies. Ligget and Meyers, Reynolds, American, Southwestern and others at that time. Several of these companies are gone now, as is the auction system. Now the grower contracts with the buyer before the growing season. The leaf was sold by the hundredweight to the highest bidder, although some said the process was rigged. I have seen a buyer from one company buy every bit of tobacco in the warehouse one day, while all the rest had their hands in their pockets. The next day another company would do the same. Makes one wonder.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, this was written out of respect for those men and women who raised the crop and supported their families. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to be a small part of it. It made me who I am today.
